Monday, November 30, 2009

"Death Metal Live", a value-packed set featuring four full DVDs of classiclive death metal, is out now in Europe for less than the cost of just oneregular CD.

With 7 hours and over 100 tracks of prime, live death metal, along withextra features such as documentaries and promo videos, "Death Metal Live"offers a value-packed set which is essential for any self-respecting deathmetal fan, and an excellent Christmas bargain.

"Death Metal Live" features four full, original DVDs from some of the mostinfluential and genre-defining death metal artists of all time, including astandalone DECAPITATED live DVD for the first time ever. The four brutallive DVDs all come housed together in a custom sleeve to offer onelow-priced, limited edition set.

Included in "Death Metal Live" are:

Deicide - When London BurnsCarcass - Wake Up And Smell The... CarcassNapalm Death - The DVDDecapitated - Live At The Rescue Rooms

Thursday, November 26, 2009

To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Earache Records is holding amassive Black Friday sale from now until Wednesday, December 2nd, with freeshipping available on all items for US and Canadian customers.

Earache's US webstore now features a completely revamped pack section forthe ultimate bargain, plus loads of reductions on CDs and t-shirts - withCDs starting at just $1. Included in the sale is brand new merchandise frombands such as CAULDRON, GODFLESH, GAMA BOMB (including an exclusive color ofthe "Survival Of The Fastest" LP) and OCEANO, plus the all-new EaracheRepetition shirt. The new "Death Metal Live" box set with 4 killer DVDs isalso just $15.

And if that isn't enough to be thankful for, there's also a massivecompilation pack featuring 30 CDs, 3 DVDs and the "Earache Extreme MetalRacing" PC game for less than $100!

European fans, fear not - we may not have Thanksgiving, but that doesn'tmean we can't hack away at our prices too!

To get in the festive spirit, the Earache European webstore is offering ahuge range of t-shirts starting at just £3, as well as many massivereductions on Earache CDs, with titles available from an astounding 50p.There are also plenty of great value packs available, plus many stunningreductions on titles from other labels such as Displeased, Napalm, Relapse,Season Of Mist and Self Made God.

The Earache European Holiday Sale ends on 11th January, so grab some greatholiday bargains while stocks last at http://earache.com/webstore

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

British thrashers EVILE have thanked the many bands and artists who havedonated items for the raffle to support the family of the band's latebassist, MIKE ALEXANDER, who tragically passed away on October 5th while theband was on tour in Sweden.

EVILE are set to host two memorial shows to honour MIKE ALEXANDER, whichwill take place on December 7th at Rio's in Leeds and December 8th at theUnderworld in London. The shows will feature live performances from Irishthrashers GAMA BOMB plus special guests MUTANT and SEREGON, as well as acover set from EVILE, with members of the other bands, playing some ofMIKE's favourite thrash songs. Tickets for the shows are only availabledirectly from the venue for £8 in advance, or for £10 on the door.

A massive raffle has been arranged, with rare and signed items from bandsand artists such as METALLICA, SLAYER, IRON MAIDEN, OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH,EXODUS, AMON AMARTH and many more up for grabs. Raffle tickets will beavailable at the memorial shows for £5 each and can also be bought onlinefor £7.50 each.

"We're absolutely blown away by the amount of support we and Mike's familyhave received direct from all these amazing people and artists. We hope wecan raise as much as possible to help Mike's family to cover many thingsneeded and to help his kids and girlfriend make up for the huge loss theyall have to deal with now.

"Please show your support by grabbing a raffle ticket, or coming down to thememorial shows in December. We'll be playing a surprise (whoops) cover setfor Mike.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Swedish melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES are set to release THEFLAMES OF THE END, a brand new 3-disc DVD set, through Earache Records.

AT THE GATES released their definitive album, SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL - oftenregarded as one of the all-time greatest metal albums - on Earache in 1995,before touring the world and abruptly disbanding. Members of the band wenton to play major roles in other notorious metal acts such as THE HAUNTED andCRADLE OF FILTH, before reforming for a one-off tour in 2008 to rapturousresponse.

Now, to celebrate AT THE GATES' massively influential career and historicalreunion tour, the band will be releasing THE FLAMES OF THE END, anextensive, in-depth and definitive 3-disc DVD set on February 22nd, 2010.

Housed in a deluxe six-panel DVD digipak with a 40-page colour booklet, THEFLAMES OF THE END will include three indispensable DVDs:

Disc 1 'Under A Serpent Sun - The Story of At The Gates' - a brand newdocumentary with a running time of over 2 hours, detailing the band's entirecareer with exclusive interviews and footage, filmed and directed byguitarist Anders Bjorler.

Disc 2 'Purgatory Unleashed - Live at Wacken' - a 75-minute live set fromthe band's reunion set at the Wacken festival in 2008 in front of 100,000people.

Disc 3 'Only the Dead Are Smiling' - 26 rare and archive live performancesof the band playing in locations around the globe from 1991 - 2008.

"It's now almost two-and-a-half years after the first telephone call to theguys regarding the reunion plans for 2008. Looking back at it today, I amvery pleased and happy we pulled it off in the short amount of time andclearing all the planning hurdles with our other bands; The Haunted,Disfear, Brujeria, Nemhain, Slakattack etc.

"I started preparing for the documentary 'Under A Serpent Sun' already in2007. I got myself a new camera, 'cause the old one gave up on me. Thedownside to my filming plans was actually reliving all the feelingsassociated with At the Gates. I didn't want to miss anything. I talked tofans, journalists, and everybody was just overwhelmed by the whole thing.All of us basically took the time to experience this tour to the fullestextent. We appreciated every second of it, because we knew that in a fewmonths it would all be over. All the troubles of the past were washed away.We were basically enjoying touring again.

"After the reunion tour, I sat down and had a look at all the material wehad collected. We had a bunch of stuff filmed from pretty much everywherewe played. The quality was very diverse, but at the same time intriguing,and it gave me the inspiration to continue on the documentary. I had madesome interviews beforehand with Tomas, and continued tracking down peoplewith knowledge of the past - Alf, Jesper Jarold from At the Gates, and abunch of people from other bands at the time. We hunted down a few hundredold pictures, old crappy VHS and HI-8 recordings from the rehearsal room,live shows, on the road footage etc... ending up with a 130-minutedocumentary. I want to express gratitude to the people helping us out withold material: photos, videos, stories etc... It wouldn't have been possiblewithout your help!

"The Wacken show was planned ahead as being the #1 show on the upcoming DVD.It captured us at our finest moment, just after the US tour, and it'sdefinitely one of our finest moments. We were blown away of the fact thatwe actually played for 60,000 people.

"So, enjoy 'The Flames of the End' DVD box set. We have really put ourhearts into this release, and it's a fine last document of the band."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The band are currently on the North American leg of the tour in support oftheir new album, MASSIVE AGGRESSIVE, which debuted at #10 on the BillboardHeatseekers chart.

MUNICIPAL WASTE drummer DAVE WITTE posts:

"This tour is going great, all the bands are bringing it each night - it's agreat bill with something for everyone. We're nine shows in already andsadly Goatwhore departed last night, we'll miss them. Off With Their Headsjoins us tomorrow to mix things up even more. We're playing a smorgasbordof old and new material and Waste fans new and old are stoked on it as wellas us!

"In Texas, in Houston we survived a flooded venue, moved the show to anotherroom and played and extended set for our awesome supportive fans and inAustin, we busted out our cover version of S.O.D.'s 'United Forces' for thelast time (we've been playing on and off while touring over the past fewyears), with the man Billy Milano himself singing."

Catch MUNICIPAL WASTE live with special guests CAULDRON plus others at thefollowing shows:

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Kevin Quirion, vocalist/guitarist of the Floridian extreme metal band, ORDER OF ENNEAD has been keeping an updated MySpace blog detailing the daily exploits of the band as they record the followup to their eponymous 2008 debut album with producer, Mark Lewis (ORDER OF ENNEAD, TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, ALL THAT REMAINS) at Audio Hammer Studios in Sanford, FL.

Quirion's studio updates have ranged from the informative to the downright bizarre - such as the entry that details how a tragic office shooting coincidentally would delay the day's recording schedule. Here's the latest update written by the ORDER OF ENNEAD frontman this past Monday:

"Day 5

Nov 16th 2009

Just a day of all work. Tracked five songs today and it all went very smooth. Mark and myself were the only ones in the studio today. Only two more to do tomorrow. Might start bass and vocals or we might do some random atmosphere and solo sections. We'll see how we feel tomorrow."

British death metallers IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION have revealed the datesfor a UK headlining tour in December.

Following numerous tours with the likes of CRYPTOPSY, BENEATH THE MASSACRE,TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED and THE BOY WILL DROWN, IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION willkick-start the 2009 holiday season with a headlining UK tour, featuringsupport from WHILE SHE SLEEPS.

Catch IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION on "The Wintour" at the following shows:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

British thrashers EVILE have confirmed a full European headlining tour for2010.

EVILE will kick off the "Infecting Nations" tour in January with a string ofUK shows, before heading off to mainland Europe for the rest of the tour.The tour will mark the band's first official shows since the tragic passingof their bassist, MIKE ALEXANDER, on October 5th.

Joining EVILE on the Infecting Nations tour will be American thrashersWARBRINGER and Israel's THE FADING.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Toronto traditional metal trio, CAULDRON have been updating their Waste the World tour blog with brand new tales of total debauchery such as the beginning of their newest entry:

"We awoke to Mike yelling "Showers!" at everyone who was still hammered but desperate enough to get out of bed to take one. Dave, Chris, Ian and Sean all got up, not having showered for about 5 days. The parking lot was next to a high school with buses full of high school girl's basketball teams pulling up for the big match. They must have enjoyed the sight of Ian standing on the sidewalk"

CAULDRON also gave their take on the now-infamous flooding that occurred at the Houston, TX stop on the tour: "Cauldron played with no mishaps. Phobia played with no mishaps. Then Goatwhore played and all hell broke loose. A really cool kid hanging from a pipe on the ceiling decided to kick a sprinkler off. Filthy looking black water erupted from everywhere and within minutes the room was flooded. Everyone scrambled to get the equipment out before it was destroyed…This actually turned out to be one of the best shows so far."

Keep up with CAULDRON by reading their Waste The World tour blog at http://bit.ly/124oYL CAULDRON heralds the return of true rock stars back into the musical landscape. They are one of today's rare bands who not only appear to be larger than life on stage, but they also live life just as large while off of it. Read the band's blogs from their previous 2 tours to see why CAULDRON is the real deal.

Catch CAULDRON on the Waste The World Tour with headliners,MUNICIPAL WASTE alongside GOATWHORE (11/6-11/16), OFF WITH THEIR HEADS (11/18-12/2), BRUTAL TRUTH (12/4-12/11) and PHOBIA. Here are the dates:

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Philly Byrne, frontman of the irish thrash act, GAMA BOMB recently spoke to Scott Alisoglu of TeethOfTheDivine.com. In a comprehensive interview, Philly, ever the outspoken one, touches upon the reasons EARACHE teamed up with Rapidshare to deliver GAMA BOMB's new album, TALES FROM THE GRAVE IN SPACE for free, the effects of file sharing on the music industry and how the band proudly waves the banner for thrash in an ever-changing scene: "Everywhere lately you see thrash bands jumping ship or aggressively retuning their style, which is fine, but we don't feel the urge. Our formula for music, and our delivery system for it, is perfect for us.

Two things dare driving the current "cooling off" of new thrash bands: one is the urge to grow musically, and the other is the fear that the ship is sinking, the scene is dying, style is turning and bands are afraid of becoming a joke. For the first, we grow musically by refining, by developing character and chops and balls. And as for the second, we've been together for seven years, popular for two, and have no fear of going back to "unpopularity" in whatever form its meant to take. We've never been cool anyway, so being passé is about as scary as a hairbrush to us. We'll stick with the thrash thanks!"

Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB have released their brand new album, TALES FROM THE GRAVE IN SPACE, worldwide as a free download. TALES FROM THE GRAVE IN SPACE is absolutely free, including artwork, and will remain a free download forever. Fans and non-fans alike are encouraged to download the album and even pass it on to everyone you know. Download the album now, powered by RapidShare, the world's leading online file hosting company, at http://www.earache.com/gamabomb

British thrashers EVILE have announced two special memorial shows in the UKto honour their late bassist, MIKE ALEXANDER, who tragically passed awaywhile on tour in Sweden on October 5th, 2009.

The two memorial shows take place on December 7th, 2009 at Rio's in Leedsand December 8th, 2009 at the Underworld in London, and will feature liveperformances from Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB plus special guests MUTANT andSEREGON. Tickets for the show are only available directly from the venuefor £8 in advance, or for £10 on the door.

A huge raffle will also take place at the memorial shows, with loads ofawesome prizes, limited edition and signed goods to be won, all of whichhave been generously donated by various bands and artists. All money raisedwill go to MIKE ALEXANDER's family.

"These two nights are for all the friends and fans of Mike who haven't had areal chance to say goodbye, and also for us to hold something a lot moreappropriate than any funeral could be. Mike wasn't religious, and hisbeliefs were solely based in music, so there is no better way to saygoodbye. He lived for music and metal. We picked a few bands who Mikeliked and we'll no doubt be playing a few covers on the night. We'reholding a raffle with LOTS of items kindly donated by some amazing peopleand bands from around the world. Keep an eye on our sites for details ofthese - please come along and grab a raffle ticket - all money is going tothe family."

GAMA BOMB frontman PHILLY BYRNE adds:

"It's a real honour to play these shows for Mike. He was a star of a manand a brilliant friend, and it'll be great to do something for his familyand friends. We're sure everyone will show their support for him at theshows."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Jose "Aladdin" Barrales, frontman of Pomona, CA thrashers, BONDED BY BLOOD, wrote an expansive blog on the band's MySpace page that looks back at an eventful 2009 and presents a rough sketch for their plans in 2010. Read on for more on the release of the followup album to 2008's FEED THE BEAST and how you can play a part in their touring plans next year.

"Well where to start. We had a great run this year with the tours in support for Feed The Beast we did a west coast tour a full USA tour and 2 European tours. We got great feedback and had lots of fun. A lot has happened since then. We have been working really hard to give you a great 2nd album. We don't want to disappoint and I'm pretty sure you wont be. We also lost a great friend and bassist but quickly found a great replacement in a guy named Jerry Garcia, some of you locals may know him as the Taking Over Bassist, which has brought great ideas to the BBB table. Now on to the juicy stuff...

The new album: We are almost done writing. We have also demoed some songs for our listening pleasure. It also helps me write lyrics. I have shown some of my really close friends and allies and they love it. Its a step up from the old stuff and a step in the right direction. We have a couple of album names floating around but nothing is set in stone. We have narrowed down some studios in LA and around the area as well as producers. There is also a really cool artist that instantly captivated our eyes with his work I'm pretty sure you will love him as well once you see the art. The sound and subject matter is a bit different than our last attempt but in a good way. Its heavier fast and a bit more technical and precise. Still has that BBB taste. We are trying to get in the studio in December or maybe even January. So this new untitled album will be out early next yr. I know you cant wait to get your palms on it. Shit Im fucking excited to get my palms on it.

Tours: As most of you know or don't know BBB books most of their shows/tours themselves. Not cus we don't like booking agents or wouldn't want one. Its just sometimes their roster is full and we have to wait around to get booked with "insert a big name band here" When we can just book a tour and take some fellow underground bands with us on a lovely month or two cruise on the road. Have some fun support the new bands coming out. This is for the USA of course when it comes to other countries we need help from an outside source and we thank everyone that has helped get us out there.

So with the release of the 2nd album we plan on making 2010 the yr BBB does not rest. We wanna tour till our dicks fall off. This is where all this planning comes along and sometimes we need help from YOU.

USA: We have many contacts and are planning on a month and a half tour with some cool bands we have in mind. If we didn't hit your city or state or you or your band would wanna set up a show let us know. this will be fun.

Mexico: We have had many messages and Emails asking us why we never come to Mexico if we are right next door. Well your prayers have been answered cus we are already setting up a great tour with a cool band from here in the area to come destroy Mexico in late 2010. So hold on to your sombreros compadres we will make it to the motherland soon.

Europe: Been there twice and we wanna make it more and more times. Its always great to see a crazy European crowd. We have a couple options and might be out there twice. We will be trying to get on a couple fest in summer as well.

Japan: I have a contact out there but more would be appreciated. We really want to make this one happen. I have had emails of fans in Japan that really want to see us live. Hopefully sometime in 2010 we will make this happen.

South America: We also have a few contacts here and we wanna make this happen. I know we have tons of fans in south America if you can help with this it would be awesome.

That pretty much it for now. We will update you as much as we can. Hope to see ya on the road."

After deciding to continue as a band following MIKE ALEXANDER's death, EVILEis now starting to audition new bassists. With so little time until the newyear tours, the band is simply looking for an experienced, friendly andskilled professional bassist/musician.

Applicants must be able to commit 100% to the band, be expected to beavailable for extensive global touring (with a valid passport) from January2010 onwards, be a resident of the UK (preferably close to Huddersfield, butnot necessary) and have touring/performing experience.

* Full name* Age* Location* A quality link to a video of you playing the bass (YouTube etc.)* A few pictures of yourself (on and off stage)* Details of playing and gigging experience* Detail why you want to join the band

Monday, November 09, 2009

The Toronto traditional metal trio, CAULDRON set trail last week with Virginia crossover leaders, MUNICIPAL WASTE on the Waste The World Tour. With a new tour comes an all new CAULDRON tour blog. Much like the now-legendary tour blogs that the tenacious trio wrote over the course of their North American Nitemare and Chained To The Road tours, the Waste The World edition will spare no details in the life of a traditional metal band making a name for themselves all over the world. From the grimy mundane, CAULDRON dishes out some truly metal road stories that prove that their larger than life attitudes aren't just confined to the stage. Here's a sample of one of their latest entires: "We get up early Thursday morning to attach the trailer to Jason's car so we can get our gear to Richmond in style. Had to get some documents signed at the border and listened to the border guard's stories of Pearl Jam passing through back in the day. The boys were crammed into a truck with Eddie Vedder behind the wheel. Missed a couple exits on the way down and got caught in a blizzard in New York. Ian and Chris shared navigating duties while Jason drove. It all went pretty smooth until we got to the red light that Jason didn't see. He jammed the brakes on at the last second and we rocked out to a massive 30 foot skid! As we approached the busy intersection Jason's potential last words were "SHIT WE'RE GOING TO DIE" followed by "SATAN'S FUCK" and then "COCK DECAY" with a few jabs to the steering wheel."

CAULDRON heralds the return of true rock stars back into the musical landscape. They are one of today's rare bands who not only appear to be larger than life on stage, but they also live life just as large while off of it. Read the band's blogs from their previous 2 tours to see why CAULDRON is the real deal.

EVANESCENCE and ELLIPSIS, two long-out-of-print releases from Britishambient dub masterminds SCORN, have been reissued together in a special setfor the price of just one regular CD.

SCORN was the brainchild of ex-NAPALM DEATH drummer MICK HARRIS andex-NAPALM DEATH founding member NIC BULLEN, mixing their love of industrialand ambient music.

EVANESCENCE was considered to be SCORN's best and most successful album,while ELLIPSIS offers material from EVANESCENCE which has been remixed andreconstructed by a host of guest collaborators, including AUTECHRE, BILLLASWELL, MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO and COIL.

Both of these classic albums have now been remastered especially for thisreissue, which puts the two albums together for the first time in onelow-priced set.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Earache Records, the British extreme metal pioneering record label, is dueto release 'Death Metal Live', a low-priced set featuring four full DVDs, onNovember 30th.

Death Metal Live features four full, original DVDs from genre-defining deathmetal artists, all housed together in a custom sleeve to create onelow-priced, limited edition set, including a Decapitated standalone live DVDfor the first time ever.

The DVDs included in Death Metal Live are:

Deicide - When London BurnsCarcass - Wake Up And Smell The... CarcassNapalm Death - The DVDDecapitated - Live At The Rescue Rooms

With 7 hours and over 100 tracks of prime, live death metal, along withextra features such as documentaries and promo videos, Death Metal Liveoffers a value-packed set which is essential for any self-respecting deathmetal fan.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

British thrashers EVILE have given their first interview since the passingof their bassist and friend, Mike Alexander, on tour in Sweden on October5th, 2009. Mike was 32 years old.

In their first interview since the tragic incident, EVILE members MattDrake, Ol Drake and Ben Carter speak exclusively to Metal Hammer in the UKabout what happened and where the band will go from here.

Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB have released their brand new album, TALES FROMTHE GRAVE IN SPACE, worldwide as a free download.

TALES FROM THE GRAVE IN SPACE is absolutely free, including artwork, andwill remain a free download forever. Fans and non-fans alike are encouragedto download the album and even pass it on to everyone you know. Downloadthe album now, powered by RapidShare, the world's leading online filehosting company, at http://www.earache.com/gamabomb

CAULDRON heralds the return of true rock stars back into the musical landscape. They are one of today's rare bands who not only appear to be larger than life on stage, but they also live life just as large while off of it. Read the band's blogs from their previous 2 tours to see whyCAULDRON is the real deal. Chained To The Road UK Tour Blog: http://bit.ly/3M7twG

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

BEFORE THE THRONE OF INFECTION, the debut album from British death metalbruisers ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY, is out now on iTunes in the USA.

BEFORE THE THRONE OF INFECTION has been licensed in the USA to EaracheRecords from UK metal label SOAR following its original release in 2008.The album will receive a physical release in the new year with an exclusivebonus DVD.

The full track listing for BEFORE THE THRONE OF INFECTION is as follows:

01. Rise Of The Leviathan02. Keeper Of The Plaguelands03. Human Dust04. Sludge City05. The Childsnatcher06. Prosthetic Erection07. Years Of Disgust08. Fisted To The Point Of Regurgitation09. Deities10. Before The Throne Of Infection

ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY are playing a special live show tonight (November3rd) at the Barfly in London, UK. The show will be filmed for an exclusiveDVD to be included with the USA physical release of BEFORE THE THRONE OFINFECTION. Entry to the gig is free, so head down there for a crushing showand the chance to appear on the DVD.